UPCOMING EVENTS

Nintendo said today that the Nintendo 3DS’s Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire have sold nearly 1.5 million copies in their first 10 days on the market in the U.S.

The Japanese company launched the new Pokémon adventures on Nov. 21. The 1.5 million in sales includes both cartridge and digital copies in the U.S., and so the numbers don’t exactly match the physical game sales reported today by The NPD Group. The market researcher said that Pokémon Alpha Sapphire was the fifth most-popular game and Pokémon Omega Ruby was the seventh most-popular game of the month in November.

Meanwhile, Nintendo said that Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS has been the best-selling individual portable game in the U.S. so far in 2014. It has tallied more than 1.5 million physical and digital copies sold in the U.S. since it launched on Oct. 3.

Nintendo also said that Wii U hardware and software sales increased by more than 10 percent and 90 percent, respectively, over the same period a year ago. In fact, Nintendo said the week of Nov. 23 was the biggest single week of Wii U hardware sales since the system launched in November 2012.

The critically acclaimed Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Metacritic aggregate review score of 92 out of 100) has sold nearly 710,000 combined copies since its Nov. 21 launch. Nintendo also introduced on Nov. 21 its Amiibo platform, which is the latest toy-game hybrid entertainment product.

Sales of Amiibo are approximately equal to sales of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U so far, while Link, Mario and Pikachu (in that order) have been the best-selling figures to date.

“This is a ringing endorsement from families and fans that Nintendo has the best variety, the best value and the best gaming experiences for sale this holiday season,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales and marketing, in a statement. “We’re extremely confident in our holiday proposition and look forward to closing this year strong and starting 2015 with a full head of steam.”